A cache is a computer component that transparently stores copies of certain memory locations such that future requests for data stored in those memory locations may be satisfied more efficiently: if the requested data is in the cache, the request may be handled by reading the cache, which is comparatively faster than reading the memory. Certain processors have multiple independent caches, including instruction and data caches, where the data cache is usually organized as a hierarchy of more cache levels (L1, L2, etc.)